French novelist Gustawsson (Yule Island) and Norwegian journalist Enger (Victim) introduce Oslo police consultant and “human lie detector” Kari Voss in this promising if tangled series launch. Widowed and haunted by the disappearance of her son seven years ago, Kari struggles to keep depression at bay. At the beginning of the novel, she’s drawn into the case of two wealthy teenage girls whose throats were slashed at a holiday cabin. Oslo chief constable Rowena Narum arrests Jesper, one of the girls’ troubled friends, after he confesses to killing them, but Kari’s specialties in body language and the implanting of false memories makes her skeptical he’s the real culprit. For help, she enlists her father, a retired Oslo police chief, and together they uncover a maze of sordid secrets seething beneath the shiny surface of Norway’s upper-class milieu. Kari is a memorable heroine, and Gustawsson and Enger bring the proceedings to a stunning crescendo. Along the way, however, the momentum occasionally gets bogged down by excessive red herrings and details about the specifics of Kari’s psychological expertise. Still, fans of Nordic crime will find this worth a look. (Aug.)

Reviewed on 06/20/2025 | Details & Permalink

A Washington State detective investigates a series of Greek goddess–inspired murders in Dumas-Heidt’s overambitious debut. In the midst of juggling a crumbling relationship, a capricious younger sister, and grief over the murder of her best friend, Tacoma police detective Cassidy Cantwell is handed the tricky case of a serial killer whose most recent victim was the wife of her high school boyfriend. Puzzled by the staging of the crime scenes, Cassidy turns to professors at the University of Washington for help. They inform her that the bodies of the killer’s female victims have been posed to mimic classic images of Greek goddesses. As the case garners national attention, the FBI and SWAT teams join the fray; meanwhile, Cassidy receives anonymous messages about her best friend’s long-unsolved murder. The core investigation is intriguing enough to keep the pages turning, but Dumas-Heidt crowds it with far too many characters and inconsequential personal crises for Cassidy. As a result, the characterization of Cassidy feels curiously flat, and the action is more exhausting than exhilarating by the time the climax rolls around. Dumas-Heidt’s reach exceeds her grasp. Agent: Elizabeth Kracht, Kimberly Cameron & Assoc. (July)

Reviewed on 06/20/2025 | Details & Permalink

The satisfyingly complex fifth case for former Chicago police detective Annalisa Vega (after All the Way Gone) comes to her from her brother, Alex, who’s serving time for aiding in a murder. Alex asks Analisa, heavily pregnant and scrambling for work as a private investigator, to look into the case of Joe Green, a fellow inmate who was convicted of killing Cyrus Merriman, his ex-wife’s lawyer. Alex believes Green is innocent and wants Annalisa to prove it. She agrees—in part because she still feels guilty about her role in putting Alex behind bars—even though her husband was the lead detective on Green’s original case. As Annalisa’s inquiry unfolds, she learns that one of Green’s ex-wives accused him of beating her, and another disappeared. Merriman, it turns out, had been performing pro bono work for Ruby’s Place, a shelter for women attempting to escape abusive relationships. Schaffhausen generates meaningful stakes for Analisa, with her marriage put under increasing strain as she dives deeper into her investigation, and weaves in sobering statistics about violence against women. If the action gets a bit too busy as the twists pile up, readers are unlikely to mind. This is a ride worth taking. (Aug.)

Reviewed on 06/20/2025 | Details & Permalink

Blake dives back into the murky depths of the mind for his riveting sophomore thriller (after Anna O). Everything changes for London-based memory specialist Dr. Olivia Finn when she gets an alarming call one morning from Paris police: her 96-year-old grandmother, renowned painter Josephine Benoit, is refusing to leave the lobby of the Hôtel Lutetia after claiming to have committed a murder there in the days after Paris was liberated from the Nazis. She maintains that her real name is Sophie Leclerc, and that she switched identities with her victim. Olivia arrives in Paris and retrieves her grandmother; a few hours later, an apparent home invasion leaves the older woman dead and prompts Olivia to wonder what long-buried grenade the morning’s confession might have set off—and whether she herself may be in danger. Scrambling for answers, Olivia reaches out to her grandmother’s lifelong friend, pioneering but controversial memory expert Louis de Villefort, to determine whether her memory might have been tampered with. Blake weaves a sprawling spiderweb of a plot that spans nearly a century and thrills from start to finish, though some suspension of disbelief is required. With a memorable protagonist, jaw-dropping twists, and provocative questions about the nature of memory, this page-turner is nearly impossible to forget. Agent: Madeleine Milburn, Madeleine Milburn Literary. (Sept.)

Reviewed on 06/27/2025 | Details & Permalink

Bahr (Haunt) makes the most of a devilish premise in this addictive 1980s-set thriller. At the outset, 10-year-old Topaz receives shocking news from her bullying older sister, Ruby, who claims she’s tracked down and captured a child serial killer that local media has nicknamed “the Beast.” The Beast, Ruby claims, is actually Brother Johnson—a pastor who teaches Topaz’s Sunday School classes—and she’s holding him captive in the basement of their home. Though Topaz suspects the often-deceitful Ruby is pulling her leg, she heads to the basement and finds Johnson bloodied and bruised with his hands and feet bound together. Johnson insists on his innocence and implores Topaz to free him, but she can’t bring herself to oblige. She’s forced, in the following days, to guard Ruby’s secret and decide whether she should let her sister starve Johnson to death or risk unleashing a dangerous criminal. Bahr keeps her cards close to the vest, gleefully toying with reader expectations via the first-person perspective of her young and conflicted protagonist. This one’s difficult to put down. Agent: Priya Doraswamy, Lotus Literary. (Aug.)

Reviewed on 06/27/2025 | Details & Permalink

L.A. private eye Ezekiel “Easy” Rawlins gets entangled in a knot of interconnected murders in the solid latest installment of Mosley’s long-running series (following Farewell, Amethystine). When Santangelo Burris asks Easy to locate his aunt, Lutisha James, the empathetic detective feels compelled to say yes even though it’s been more than a year since his last case. Easy’s inquiries lead him to a grim Bel-Air crime scene, where he discovers three bodies and a terrified nine-year-old survivor. While Lutisha, a live-in domestic worker, is not among the victims, she’s undeniably connected to the murders. The subsequent search lures Easy into multiple skirmishes and shoot-outs before he unexpectedly stumbles on yet another homicide. After being arrested at that scene and taken to county jail, Easy agrees to assist an inmate trying to find his missing father. Upon his release, Easy tracks down Lutisha, only to discover that she’s a swindler with a far more complicated past than he anticipated. Mosley’s intricate plot feels a little more contrived than usual, but his stirring prose and vivid evocation of 1970s L.A. carry the day, and Easy himself is as charming as ever. Series fans will find plenty to enjoy. Agent: Gloria Loomis, Watkins Loomis Agency. (Sept.)

Reviewed on 06/27/2025 | Details & Permalink

Paul (Dead Girls Don’t Talk) is at her best in this pitch-black thriller about Alice, a young woman who’s told by her controlling parents that she was born without the ability to speak. As a result, she’s been locked inside her childhood home, with books and whatever soap opera she can watch in secret her only contact with the outside world. When she’s 24, trees are cut down outside Alice’s window, allowing her to see into the bedroom of her neighbor, Hailey. The two start communicating via sign language and written messages. Then Alice’s domineering father is diagnosed with terminal cancer, and in his final days of delirium, he tells Alice that he may have murdered a string of young women. After he dies, Alice teams up with Hailey to determine if her father’s confessions were true—and if so, what they might mean about her own past. Paul doles out the plot’s secrets gradually, maintaining taut suspense, and her portrait of Alice as a neglected child (she concedes that she’d prefer her distant mother hit her over “never being touched at all”) is wrenching. This isn’t for the faint of heart, but it’s a twisted ride worth taking. Agent: Melissa Vandeputte, Hamley Books. (Aug.)

Reviewed on 06/27/2025 | Details & Permalink

In Freeman’s thrilling latest Bourne adventure (after The Bourne Vendetta), the amnesiac spy is dealt a devastating blow that returns the series to its roots. The novel opens in flashback, with a 20-something Bourne—using his birth name, David Webb—undergoing a deadly test from his brilliant and calculating mentor David “the Monk” Abbott. Bourne passes the test and is cleared to take assignments for Webb’s secret new espionage organization, Treadstone. In the present, Bourne is sailing in the Mediterranean with his girlfriend, fellow agent Johanna. The two are on the run from Russian assassins sent by Vladimir Putin and the head of Treadstone. One morning, Bourne wakes up floating alone on a piece of sailboat wreckage, suddenly wiped of all the memories he’d meticulously recovered over the series’ four-decade run. Again a blank slate, Bourne must relearn who he is while dodging those determined to kill him. Freeman keeps the plot’s hard reset from feeling too familiar by seizing the opportunity to fill in key questions about Bourne’s past. It’s a nostalgic treat for longtime series fans, and it sets up future entries for success. Agent: Deborah Gelfman, Gelfman Schneider. (July)

Reviewed on 06/27/2025 | Details & Permalink

International intrigue, classic heist tropes, and gonzo humor collide in this bruising page-turner from Ackerman (2054). Jay Manning, better known as “Skwerl,” was a member of an elite CIA unit before one of his missions went FUBAR and he was fired. His old friend Aziz “Big Cheese” Iqbal is an Afghan pilot renowned for his ability to fly any kind of plane. Adrift without a war to fight, the two take to operating as mercenaries-for-hire. As the novel opens, Skwerl has persuaded Cheese to travel to Africa and “repossess” a luxury jet on behalf of an anonymous client. Things go south fast when they walk into an ambush, barely escaping in Cheese’s plane to a hangar in rural Pennsylvania. They regroup and—with the help of a memorable supporting cast including Skwerl’s dominatrix wife Sinead, an excommunicated Amish mechanic named Ephraim, and a former soldier nicknamed “Just Shane” who’s gone off the grid in Colorado—try to determine who might have set them up. When Cheese’s pregnant wife is kidnapped, things get more urgent. Ackerman, a former Marine, holds a funhouse mirror up to classic grizzled-soldier narratives while grounding the loopy proceedings with real stakes for his characters. The result is a riotous entertainment. Agent: PJ Mark, Janklow & Nesbit. (Aug.)

Reviewed on 06/27/2025 | Details & Permalink

Berney (Dark Ride) shines in this enthralling epic, which covers more than 50 years in the lives of the Mercurio crime family. In 1961, patriarch Buddy, a low-level member of the Chicago mafia, is 22 and living in Las Vegas. His life changes when he meets beautiful swindler Lillian Ott. The two hit it off from their first conversation, and immediately jump into a relationship and start planning a family. When Buddy is tipped off that his boss has discovered his side hustles and ordered him killed, they flee to Oklahoma. In the following years, Buddy and Lillian have five children—Jeremy, Tallulah, Ray, Alice, and Piggy—each of whom inherits some aspect of their parents’ criminal tendencies. The action then shifts to the children’s triumphs and failures, including Tallulah’s time in 1990s Moscow, where she gets involved with human traffickers; the hyper-meticulous Alice’s failed attempt to go straight as an attorney at a white-shoe law firm in New York; and favorite son Jeremy’s rise and fall in 1980s Hollywood. The tone is lighter than in Berney’s previous books, but the episodic structure and focus on character over action charms. Fans of Elmore Leonard will eat this up. Agent: Shane Salerno, Story Factory. (Sept.)

Reviewed on 06/27/2025 | Details & Permalink